Community What are you currently playing?

[Ascheroth]

1) Nioh is loong. Region 5 now after 40 hours. I suspect it will be another 20 at least. Still rocking the Kusarigama. Though after I've reached max proficiency I felt like it would be a waste if I didn't try something else. So I randomly found a good axe and randomly started using that for regular business, while switching to Kusarigama for the real shit, lol.

2) Finally starting VA-11 Hall-A for real (it's only been 3 years since I got it ) and I really like it. Also downloading 2064: Read Only Memories rn because I've read they have some cross-over cameos - and it's also a good game I've heard)

3) I've played a bit of FRAMED from the Humble Australia charity bundle and I really dig it. That noir aesthetic is awesome and the gameplay is really cool too - rearranging comic panels so your character can move through them without being caught/dying

4) Reached the Final 3 in Battle Chef Brigade. I love the aesthetic, characters and world but tbh the gameplay feels just a bit too stressful with too much choice for me, though it's not really that difficult in the end. I kinda enjoy the puzzles sometimes more than the cooking battles, haha.

5) Durantified Ys VIII is awesome. 1440p 120-144fps butter smooth Falcom action goodness into MY VEINS. Or 4k downsampled 70-90 butter smooth action goodness, depending on what I'll go for. Can't wait to try out co-op next weekend.

 

[Guilty of Being]

1) 1979 Revolution: Black Friday -- I enjoyed the story. The game wasn't anything to clap about.

2) My Friend Pedro -- Fun. I feel HKM and HLM are better.

 

[Guilty of Being]

Well, I'm on to Gunman Clive.

May jump in BL1 in a bit. I've never played the first Boderlands.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Come on! Catch a ride!

 

[fantomena]

Persona 5. Finished the second villain/palace. It's a long, but great game, so hopefully I don't get demotivated by something that will make me quit playing.

It's one of very few games I have left in my PS4 backlog.

 

[z1ggy]

I´m playing ThroneBreaker and hell, i wish this was a turn based combat game. Would be so much better.

 

[Stevey]

Dark Souls 2

 

[Yoshi]

Completed:

• Life is Strange 2 - I hope people give this a fair shot despite the new characters. Excited for DONTNOD's next game.
• Yakuza Kiwami 1 & 2 - Man, I really love Yakuza games. They can stick with the same formula forever and I'd still buy them. Favorite Yakuza game so far: Yakuza 0
• Darksiders III - Forced myself through this one, which is unfortunate considering my love for Darksiders 1 & 2.
• Q.U.B.E. 2 - The Portal influence is very apparent. Really liked this puzzler even though I wasn't a fan of the first Q.U.B.E. The puzzles were a bit on the easy side. This game could really use Steam Workshop.
• State of Mind - Reminded me of the Dreamfall games. Witcher's Geralt voices the main character. Pretty decent story. I feel this game is underrated.
• INSIDE - Man, Playdead is great at what they do. Those final moments are jaw-dropping.
• My Friend Pedro - This game is very satisfying to play. It may look repetitive, but they do just enough each level to spice things up.
• Late Shift - a FMV crime thriller game where choices matter. Grabbed my attention the entire time. Recommended for fans of FMV games.
• Call of Duty: WWII - Enjoyable singleplayer campaign with its highlight being the undercover mission, which was a nice change of pace. This COD also has a local play mode where you can play offline against bots and zombies (yay!)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) - Unfortunately, this COD is "always online". I'm not high on the campaign as everyone else is, but I still had fun. However, I was disappointed in the multiplayer -- too many large maps, feels slower than previous CODs. Highlight of the game: Farah

Currently playing:

• A Plague Tale - Innocence - Playing it on Game Pass. I'm a couple chapters in, but interesting game so far...though the rat swarms are disturbing

 

[Ge0force]

Pinball FX3, table pack 5. Circus Voltaire is my favorite pinball game ever and I'd love to have a real one in my living room some day.

 

[lashman]

Life is Strange 2 - I hope people give this a fair shot despite the new characters. Excited for DONTNOD's next game.

 

[ShadowAUS]

Currently only playing Total War: Three Kingdoms. Trying to finally finish a legendary campaign and get that out of the way. They're not at all difficult just tedious to the point of being unfun, so I've been putting off doing it in 3K until I could be arsed to get through the full stack spamming mid to late game. Afterwards I might finally dust off my PS4 and play The Last of Us which has been in my backlog for the majority of the last decade.

I've been hesitating on whether to pick it up, pretty much everyone I know who played it was at least partially disappointed and/or annoyed by it.

 

[lashman]

I've been hesitating on whether to pick it up, pretty much everyone I know who played it was at least partially disappointed and/or annoyed by it.

wow, get better friends then

the game is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE ... better than the first one in every possible way ... it's my GOTY ... and my GOTD

and no, i'm not joking

 

[ShadowAUS]

wow, get better friends then

the game is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE ... better than the first one in every possible way ... it's my GOTY ... and my GOTD

and no, i'm not joking

sigh My poor wallet. Welp you've sold me, I'll trust you and see how I fare with it

Edit: I can't believe it's not on the Switch, such a perfect platform for that kind of game. PC it is.

 

[lashman]

sigh My poor wallet. Welp you've sold me, I'll trust you and see how I fare with it

i'm sure you'll love it

just remember - it's a completely new story ... don't expect to see ANYTHING from the first game in there

i imagine that's why some of the people were disappointed - they wanted to see more of Max and Chloe ... but LiS2 isn't that

 

[Spamlynguist]

Currently playing through ZOMBI, just need to finish a few more missions

 

[Khilandros]

Currently playing MHW: Iceborne PC and Red Dead 2 (mostly the online stuff).
Addicted to Iceborne and can't wait for all the catch up content and beyond, looks like this game will be keeping me busy for a while.

 

[Stevey]

Dark Souls 2

 

[Stevey]

Dark Souls 2

 

[Guilty of Being]

I've been playing through Devolver Bootleg. So much fun.

 

[Ge0force]

Oxygen not included. I can't stop playing that wonderful game!

 

[ShadowAUS]

Oxygen not included. I can't stop playing that wonderful game!

I picked it up in the seal, really looking forward to diving into it after my TW campaign is over.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Oxygen not included. I can't stop playing that wonderful game!

I want to get back into it, but there are so may complex systems that have been introduced since Early Access, that I feel too uncomfortable in making mistakes or bad builds.

I went back to Witcher 2 to do a Vernon Roche playthrough and I'm playing Undertale for the first time starting today.

 

[Zexen]

Been playing Pathfinder Kingmaker, didn't wanted to at first because the real-time with pause battles with no much way to prioritize allies decisions really put me off. Then I learned there was a turn-based mod available and I'm having a blast since then. Love the micro-management of the Kingdom on the side.

I rolled a Scaled Fist and it feels great to punch my way through the Stolen Lands.

 

[Ge0force]

Night of the rabbit. Great adventure by Daedelic.

 

[LEANIJA]

Gears 5, love the campaign for the most part. I guess most of the criticism is aimed at the MP, which I could not care less about. I liked it so much in fact that I bought it on Steam after playing it via Gamepass.
Half-Life 2, actually never played this through. Still holds up today, I think! And now Im stoked for HL Alyx, obviously. Just sucks that I dont know whats going on. I havent played the first HL either, and my current playthrough of HL2 is with an old save file and I cannot remember what happened in those first few hours I played a few years ago.

I completed HL2 some time later (I liked it for the most part, some parts have not aged well, however), but I still havent completed Gears 5.

But I have played through Resident Evil 2 (the 2019 remake) again. And then again. And then one more time.
It just absorbed me for a while. I really loved it when it first came out (and obviously I still do), same as Resi 7... which I figured I also could replay, but ultimately didn't (I started, played half an hour or so and then stopped to play more Resi 2).
After that, after I was finally free from RE2s grasp, I started playing Resident Evil (the 2002 remake/2015 remaster) but couldnt really get into it. The controls and camera perspectives are just too jarring now. And the puzzles are just insane. It simply wasn't enjoyable: I don't play games to have a bad time with them.
Anyway, unsurprisingly, I am very much looking forward to the Resident Evil 3 remake.

I'm currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn on PC via PS Now. It works-ish. My internet connection is okay and it's mostly fine to play, although it's often blurry and the combat is of course only doable on the easy difficulties, thanks to the input lag.
Other than that, I really like it. I would really like a PC/Steam release as rumoured. I hope these rumours turn out to be true, but you never know.

 

[Guilty of Being]

I'm hooked on Downwell (again).

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Xenoblade Chronicles X... and will be for the next week or two at least.
God, i love this game

Port it to Switch! Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!

 

[Guilty of Being]

Ready to get home to jump back into Downwell. I'm still struggling to beat the water level.

 

[Stevey]

Played WC3 reforged, seemed fine to me (single player at least)

 

[Matimeo]

Playing Grid 2019 on PC , lots of different games on switch (current top games are puzzle quest, slay the spire, and diablo 3).

 

[Swenhir]

I've been playing the alpha 3.8.1 of Star Citizen after a bit of break since 3.8 was quite annoyingly buggy.

Damn. When this game works, when it's firing on all cylinders, it is peerless. The sense of scale, of coming down from orbit and just seeing the world out the window, entering locales and places that have such incredible atmosphere is an unparalleled experience.

This game has beauty and it's a glorious thing, for all its faults.

 

[sauce]

I'm still working my way through SaGa Scarlet Graces. It's such a good game but I'm so shit at it lol. I'm probably just going to finish up Urpina's route and play Blue Reflection after. Wish I wasn't so busy so I had more time to 100% this :'(

 

[Chudah]

Started playing Fire Emblem: The Three Houses last week, and I am absolutely addicted. Can't stop playing it. I've logged a good 25 hours in a week and a half, and all I wanna do right now is jump back in. >.<

 

[Ge0force]

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. Excellent game with some of the best stealth gameplay ever made!

Also finished Night of the Rabbit last night. Had to check a walkthrough a few times, but most puzzles are very good. Story is excellent as well, definitely the best Daedelic adventure so far!

 

[Oldschool PC]

I love Dishonored, but I can't agree with calling it a great stealth game when it lacks basic mechanics like hiding in shadows.

 

[Ge0force]

I love Dishonored, but I can't agree with calling it a great stealth game when it lacks basic mechanics like hiding in shadows.

I just found a bone that reduces detection in shadows, so the mechanic exists.

 

[Guilty of Being]

Why am I playing Goat Simulator?

 

[lashman]

Why am I playing Goat Simulator?

good question

 

[Alextended]

I love Dishonored, but I can't agree with calling it a great stealth game when it lacks basic mechanics like hiding in shadows.

Why not? Tenchu had no hiding in shadows, or metal gear, you can have stealth without that system.

Just because the greatest stealth game has it (Thief) doesn't mean all should copy that system (like Styx, or Splinter Cell).

I like Dishonored (1) when played as a stealth game, though I wish it didn't have blink in favor of manual traversal (and the levels fit for that).

And yeah shadows sorta do work if the enemies aren't close, it's just not the emphasized stealth system over good ol line of sight based mechanics.

 

[Oldschool PC]

I just found a bone that reduces detection in shadows, so the mechanic exists.

Darkness only slightly reduces view cones at long distances, but it's not a dynamic system like what is found in Thief or Splinter Cell.

For example, in Chaos Theory you can shoot out a light bulb to turn a room pitch black, making it so guards can't detect your character even if they are standing a meter away in front of you. In Dishonored, as long as you are in a Guards line of sight they will detect you regardless of the lighting.

Originally Arkane had planned to add this feature into the game, but they removed it at the last second.

Why Dishonored ditched its Thief shadow stealth mechanic

Dishonored started life with a 'hide in the shadows' stealth mechanic like Thief had. But Arkane ditched it - for a cou…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Alextended]

Where does that begin to imply it was removed at the "last second" if anything it looks like a calculated choice that affected their level/game design and art.

 

[Oldschool PC]

Why not? Tenchu had no hiding in shadows, or metal gear, you can have stealth without that system.

Just because the greatest stealth game has it (Thief) doesn't mean all should copy that system (like Styx, or Splinter Cell).

Because I think there should be a distinction between 'stealth games' and 'games with stealth elements.'

There are many other reasons why I don't believe Dishonored measures up to Thief, Splinter Cell, or Styx as a pure stealth game, but what it ultimately boils down to is those games chose to focus almost exclusively on stealth, while Dishonored chose to focus on many other elements besides stealth.

Now if he said Dishonored is one of the greatest games with stealth elements, I would agree with that claim entirely.

 

[Guilty of Being]

good question

 

[Alextended]

Because I think there should be a distinction between 'stealth games' and 'games with stealth elements.'

There are many other reasons why I don't believe Dishonored measures up to Thief, Splinter Cell, or Styx as a pure stealth game, but what it ultimately boils down to is those games chose to focus almost exclusively on stealth, while Dishonored chose to focus on many other elements besides stealth.

Now if he said Dishonored is one of the greatest games with stealth elements, I would agree with that claim entirely.

Well, Splinter Cell Blacklist lets you go quite gung ho too but it's still a pretty good stealth game if you play it in that way (and maintains the light mechanics in either approach). Same for Dishonored. Sure, you can choose to play it as an action game but it works as a stealth game. Good level layouts, decent enemy reactions and options to go unseen and even ghost most of the game. Splinter Cell doesn't measure up to Thief either and neither does Styx but they're still pretty good stealth games. Maybe you have other issues with the game, sure, whatever, you don't have to like it like others do, but you chose to say it's not a stealth game because of the light mechanics and I disagree that they're necessary just as stealth games with the light mechanics often have sections that force you to use other means because in this or that area lights cannot be turned off so you rely on line of sight, distraction, noise and alternate routes, still stealthy. Less dynamic? Maybe, but even if it had lights that wouldn't necessarily make it dynamic, it could just be a thing you have to do before traversing the levels in the single way you can do so, by using the dev calculated shadows, after causing them to exist. It's all up to level and game design to make either case good.

Not measuring up to Thief 1 & 2, which no game (and some of their own levels) does, Chaos Theory included, is one thing. Not being a stealth game is another. Saying this or that is pretty good/great/enjoyable/whatever doesn't at the same time try and put it on the same pedestal as the greatest of all time in anything.

 

[Oldschool PC]

Well, Splinter Cell Blacklist lets you go quite gung ho too but it's still a pretty good stealth game if you play it in that way (and maintains the light mechanics in either approach).

By Splinter Cell what I actually meant to say is Chaos Theory. Nothing else in the series compares in my opinion.

Maybe you have other issues with the game, sure, whatever, you don't have to like it like others do, but you chose to say it's not a stealth game because of the light mechanic

Hold on a second...

1. Dishonored is one of my favorite series. Just because I said I don't find the stealth that great doesn't mean to imply that I hate it overall.

2. The lack of proper light mechanics is just one reason why I don't consider Dishonored a proper stealth game. There are plenty of other examples I could give as well, such as the lack of dynamic movement speed and surface sound. In Chaos Theory and Thief, you can actively control how fast you move in order to determine the noise your footsteps make, which is also affected by the type of surface you are moving on. In Dishonored generally all that matters is whether your character is crouching or running.

 

[xinek]

Currently am 16 hours into Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I like the game generally, and I think it's well executed. But the questing is so unbelievably linear and just ... meh. Fetch quest after fetch quest, except it's just talking to people. It's almost too realistic, like living in old timey Bohemia actually was pretty boring. No magic, nothing really happening outside of person to person drama and doing chores. Does it get better? It's seriously threatening the rest of my Backlog Blitz effort.

 

[Alextended]

Nope, there's no magic and dragons or anything ever in the game, just alchemy and stuff for potions, not sure why you expected that. If you don't like the character and his story there's no reason to go on, no side quest will be as in depth or more interesting than that and the sandboxy side elements aren't deep. I don't think it's any more linear questing than other RPGs of this style though, some quests can be completed in different ways or for different people and others only one way, it varies, but it certainly never tries to be planescape torment and have you talk your way around wholly different scenarios and situations.

 

[Khilandros]

New month and still playing a lot of MHW: Iceborne and Red Dead 2 Online. Some of my buddies are playing RD2 again, so can finally do fun posse stuff.

 

[Alextended]

There are plenty of other examples I could give as well, such as the lack of dynamic movement speed and surface sound. In Chaos Theory and Thief, you can actively control how fast you move in order to determine the noise your footsteps make, which is also affected by the type of surface you are moving on. In Dishonored generally all that matters is whether your character is crouching or running.

That's streamlining, not changing the genre. Thief doesn't have all the variable traversal speeds splinter cell does either, styx and dishonored have less, are still stealth. And again I never said it's as good as the goat in the genre, just that it very much is in the genre if you go for that play style. Also, in thief the crouching makes the same noise as walking slow, if you always crouch as in dishonored you can still finish the game, it's just nice to be able to also walk slow standing without noise regardless of surface (but if you need the visibility you can make do with standing for a moment every few steps in dishonored).

Iirc thief 2 even streamlined it a bit compared to thief 1 which also had a "crawl" button which could activate whether crouched or not and make you even slower than just walking (and at that point you might as well be immobile, it's just way too slow). Or was that still in? I don't recall having to use it in either game, the walking/crouching speed was enough to not make a sound as needed and just stay immobile if someone's too close or whatever. Edit: ok my bad it was the opposite, thief 2 added the "creep" button, which doesn't make thief less of a stealth game (and still isn't as variable speed as sc).

Sc and styx streamlined in other ways in that they are third person so you don't need all the leaning stuff you do in Thief (which isn't even just left/right).

 

[Guilty of Being]

I decided to venture back into a relaxing game, Thomas Was Alone. I haven't played it since Vita.